“You didn’t know that when you made me the account and such.”
“Uh, I guess I was being hopeful and friendly and a bit optimistic…?” Dev’s expression turned into an embodiment of “aww, shucks.” It was more endearing than it probably should’ve been on a grown man.
Seth glanced at the laptop screen. Something was almost done downloading. He nodded at it, and Dev went to work again. “Do you mind if I go get us drinks while you set it all up?” he asked, and got a quick grin and head shake in reply.
“I’ll drink anything caffeinated, if that helps narrow it down?” Dev grinned at Seth, then went back to the task at hand.
Smiling, Seth went to the kitchen to get their drinks and check on Leaf. He found him stirring something fragrant and bubbly on the stove.
“Pasta?” he asked, hugging Leaf from behind.
“Yeah, easy and tasty. Thought you’d both like it,” Leaf confirmed, and turned his head back to give Seth a kiss. “Love you.”
“I love you too, Leaf.” Seth squeezed his man and concentrated on the closeness for a few moments. “I need drinks for us. You want anything?” He reluctantly let go of Leaf and went to the fridge.
“Open me another beer?” Leaf asked, gesturing at the almost empty bottle by the sink.
Seth picked a beer for himself too, and a Coke for Dev. He popped the caps off the beers, left Leaf’s by the old one, and kissed him on the cheek. “Let us know when you’re done?”
“Will do. Have fun with our boy.” Leaf grinned at him in the familiar way that still, after a decade, made Seth’s heart flutter and his blood flow south.
“Yeah.” He nodded and went back to the family room, where Dev was just finishing up something, or so it seemed.
He took the Coke from Seth. “Thanks. I’m just about ready to open the first game.”
“Okay,” Seth said, sitting down right next to him, thigh against thigh. “Show me?”
“I’m not going to tell you much beforehand. I don’t want to spoil anything. It’s calledLimbo, and it’s all grayscale, supereasy puzzles, and well, you’ll see. Very atmospheric and cool, and I thought you might enjoy how simplistic it is.” Dev got animated again and then grinned sheepishly as he lowered the hand he’d been gesturing with. “Sorry. I’ll show you the controls so you can try it yourself.”
“Is it hard for a nongamer?” Seth worried.
“Not at all. Very simple controls. Here, let me show you.”
Dev taught him what to do, and within five minutes, Seth felt like he could actually play the game. He pulled the laptop onto his lap and leaned back against the couch. Dev sat next to him and answered his questions.
Seth found that he loved the art style, even though he did normally like colors more than grayscale. Colors were his thing in art, but here, the absence of color worked like a charm.
He got sucked into the game, guiding what looked like a boy in a 2D world. What made a difference was the art. Often, he just stopped playing and stared at the vivid background that was layered in such way that it looked 3D.
Dev told him what to do with some bear traps and explained how to use the ropes to swing, and so on. Even when he completely messed up and his little charge got snapped inside a huge trap, with his head flying off and his blood—all of the gore had been depicted as black, which made this bearable for a newbie gamer—splattering, Seth had fun.
“Oh, come on!” Dev finally exclaimed, when Seth didn’t get something right for the third time.
“Hey, I’m new at this!” Seth whined and tried again. At least the game didn’t take him too far back when he managed to die, instead dropping him in the beginning of the lethal puzzle.
He assumed the first five minutes of the game took him at least twice as long, but he didn’t care. It wasn’t until the spider came along that he freaked out a little.
“Oh my God!”
“Big nasty spider?” Dev asked him, grinning.
“It looks so awesome, but it’s so creepy!” Seth exclaimed, forcing his hands to stay on the keyboard. “I can’t go through it, can I? So I have to go closer. I don’t wanna!” he whined, only half on purpose.
Dev chuckled. “You ain’t seen nothing yet, buddy.”
“What am I supposed to do here?” Seth asked, yelping when the huge spider’s spindly leg hit the ground right next to his character.
“Do that again. Just don’t let it hit you. Then go back left a bit—remember the trap in the tree?”
